Exerciser



Sept 12, 1933. E SMYLEY 3,925,921

EXERCISER Filed May 11, 1932 mn w mu 0 w INVENTOR Zimvuel 621% ATTORN EY 9 used by baseball players Patented Sept. 12, 1933 UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE EXERCISER Emanuel Smyley, Flint, Mich. Application May 11, 1932. Serial No. 610,640

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in exercisers, and its objects are as follows:-

First, to provide an exerciser for baseball'players, especially those who are about to go to bat, 5 by whom the exerciser is to be grasped as a bat and swung from shoulder to shoulder with desired degrees of vigor for the purpose of strengthening the finger, wrist, arm, shoulder and back muscles. Second, to provide an exerciser which will be for the foregoing purposes in lieu of swinging three or four bats prior to going to bat.

Third, to provide an exerciser which is made, generally speaking, on the order of a baseball bat,

' but in which the heavy end of the bat is substituted by a cage or its equivalent in which a resiliently suspended ball or other weight is guided for outward and inward movements during the swinging of the exerciser.

Fourth, to provide an exerciser as last described, embodying a hell or other signal which will be sounded when the exerciser is swung particularly hard.

Fifth, to supplement a single baseball bat, or a 5 fraction thereof with a resiliently suspended and movable weight.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in. which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the exerciser.

Figure 2 is a fractional vertical section, parts being shown in elevation.

Figure 3 is a detail cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a cross section taken on the line 4-4; of Figure 2.

It seems to have become the practice of baseball players, especially those about to go to bat, to exercise the muscles of their hands, arms and upper bodies by swinging one or more bats as in the act of batting. It is not uncommon for a player to take as many as three or four bats in a bundle, so to speak, and swing themback and forth, sometimes from shoulder to shoulder, for

the purpose stated.

This practice, although probably beneficial, is not satisfactory if for no other reason than the difficulty of holding a number of bats at one time. The use of a single bat is not satisfactory because a particularly vigorous swing unencountered by the resistance of a baseball, is not unlikely to wrench the players back as well as to cause him to lose his grip and. throw the bat away where it might strike someone. As. a matter of fact, players when batting and missing the ball will cross bolts 10 and often lose their grip on the bat and sometimes throw it as far as the pitchers box.

The instant exerciser is intended to take the place of the foregoing bundle of bats and to embody, in a sense, a means for supplying at least some of the resistance which the player may expect to encounter through the medium of the baseball when swinging a single hat. 1

Attention is directed to the drawing. Here the bat 1 is supplemented with a cage 2 in which a ball or other weight 3 is guided, said ball being resiliently suspended both by the element 4 and the element 5. The respective elements are secured to the weight 3 at the near ends as at 6 and 'Z, and anchore'dat the remote ends as at 8 and 9 7 O to the substantial free end of the bat l and to the free end of thecage 2.

According to the illustration (Fig. 1) the heavy end of the bat is removed and the cage 2 and its appurtenances substituted therefor. The connectionbetween the bat and cage is made by a number of cross bolts 10 (Figs. 2 and 3) which rest in valleys 11 on opposite sides of an inner plate 12. The opposite ends of the cross bolts make connection with bridge pieces 13 which are 0 applied to opposite ends of the plate 12. The bridge pieces 13 constitute spanner means by which the cage 2 is anchored to the bat 1, and it is from this same general anchorage that the weight 3 is partially suspended by virtue of its connection at 8 to the nearest one of the cross bolts 10 (Fig. 2). From this view it is plain that the cross bolts 10 go through a pair of holes 14 bored crosswise of the abbreviated bat. The plate 12 is made with a hole large enough to let the end of the bat through as shown in Figure 2.

An outer plate 15, generally like the plate 12, together with a number of tubular spacers 16 and long bolts 1'? complete the cage 2. The cage contains and guides the ball 3, the choice of four spacer guides being made because of the assurance of adequately retaining the weight as well as insuring its back and forth movements with the best possible balance and the least possible friction.

The ends of the spacers 16 are set in counterbores 18 (Fig. 3) in the confronting faces of the plates 12, 15. This arrangement improves the holding quality of the spacers and insures their keeping clear of the contained bolts 1'7. Were it not for the counterbores 18 there would be an eventual disagreeable rattling of the spacers against the bolts in case the nuts 19 on the latter become loosened. 110

A bell 20 is appropriately afiixed to the outer plate 15 in such a way that it may be struck when the exerciser is swung with the requisite degree of vigor. The bell may be supported by a spike 21 or its equivalent, and the striking may be done by the connecting means 7 which should consist of metal. In swinging the exerciser the resilient element 5 naturally collapses, and ordinarily the connection 7 will deliver a blow to the bell hard enough to make it sound.

In practice the various connections 6, 7, 8, 9 are made in such a way as to readily enable the renewal of the elements 4, 5 should a breakage occur. These elements are preferably composed of rubber cables because of their silent working quality. They will be either tied or clipped in place, and for the former purpose the connection 9 includes a metallic link 22 which goes through a hole in the plate 15 and is held by a cross pin 23 which is set in a valley or concavity on the outside of the plate.

It will be observed that the element 4 is doubled, while the element 5 comprises only a single strand. The element 4 is required to resist the centrifugal force to which the weight 3 is subjected in swinging the exerciser. The purpose of the element 5 is largely that of a stabilizer. It aids in keeping the weight 3 in a balanced position in its cage, preventing the weight from dropping in its cage when the exerciser is swung over the shoulder of a person as in transportation.

The weight 3 comprises an aluminum ball weighing approximately five pounds. Of course the weight does not have to be a ball, nor does it have to be made of aluminum, nor weigh around five pounds. It is intended that there will be a permissible variation in all of these factors, the established weight of the ball depending somewhat on the strength of the operator. For example, an exerciser made for boys exclusively would embody a ball of a weight less than in an exerciser made for adult players.

The operation of the exerciser is readily understood. Its general principle is the supplementing of a single baseball bat with a weight which shall make up for the absent bats in the bundle of three or four spoken of above. As shown in Figure 1 the exerciser consists of a handled member, a weight 3 resiliently suspended from the handled member, and some sort of guide means for keeping the weight within proper confines. The player will grasp the handle of the bat 1 just as though it were a regular bat, and swing it back and forth from shoulder to shoulder. The flying out of the ball 3 against the tension of the resilient, doubled element 4 will cause a reaction on the players muscles, tending to strengthen those of the fingers, arms, etc. The player will soon learn to time his swinging in such a way and to put enough force behind it to cause either the ball 3 or the connection '7 to ring the bell 20. When the player achieves that degree of perfection whereat he will ring the bell with every swing he will know that he is properly timing his swings and putting enough force behind them to strike the ball a very hard blow when he actually goes to bat.

I claim:-

1. An exerciser comprising a handled member, a cage carried by said member, said cage being swung when said member is swung, a weight confined by the cage, and a resilient element connected at one end of the weight and at the other end approximately at the place of connection between the member and cage.

2. An exerciser comprising a handled member, a cage carried by said member, said cage being swung when said member is swung, a weight confined by the cage, a resilient element connected at one end of the weight and at the other end approximately at the place of connection between the member and cage, and a resilient element connected at one end to the weight and at its other end to the opposite end of the cage.

3. An exerciser comprising a handled member to be swung, a cage carried by said member, a weight freely movable in said cage and tending to move outwardly in the cage when said memer is swung, a sounding device at the outer end of the cage, adapted to be struck by said weight, and resilient connections from opposite sides of the weight to the remote ends of the cage.

4. An exerciser comprising an abbreviated bat, a cage including end plates, spacing and connecting means for holding the plates apart, means for securing the cage to the bat, a weight contained by the cage, and a pair of resilient elements each connected with the weight and having their remote ends connected respectively adjacent to the bat and to the outermost end plate.

, Y 5. In an exerciser, a bat and a cage, said cage including a plate receiving an end of the bat, and spanner means for securing the plate to the bat, said spanner means including cross bolts and bridge pieces at opposite sides of the plate with which bridge pieces the bolts are connected, said plate having valleys in which the cross bolts are rested.

' EMANUEL SMYLEY. 

